How to Love Your Neighbor

First what we need to resolve is, who is our neighbor. An expert in the Jewish law asked Jesus this very same question, Jesus replied to the question with the parable of “The Good Samaritan" (Luke10:25-37). Your neighbor is your spouse, children, mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, friend, and anyone that you come into contact with during the day. If this is so then how can we possibly love all of them? Read further for some ideas on how to love your neighbor.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Pray for your neighbor. This shows that you care about them. Pray for those that you do know and for those who you will come into contact with that day. They may not see it now but God sees your love and hears your prayer. Ask God to bless the people in your life and to help them grow closer to Him.
2. Show your love by what you say to her and how you say it while talking with a neighbor. Always speak in love. Whatever it is you say, say it in a loving way. It is not always easy and we will make mistakes at times but don’t give up. Continue to encourage her with your words. I’m not talking about simple flattery but words that are true. Words that will lift her up and help her get through her day.
3. Tell him in a gentle, loving way that what he is doing is wrong. Correcting your neighbor is actually a form of love. This is a way of loving him. If you didn’t care about him, you wouldn’t say anything. Letting him continue in his error may lead to other wrong decisions that he may make in the future. Always say it with love and concern for him so that he can tell that you really care about him and that is why you are telling him.
4. Spend time with your neighbor. Although we all only have 24 hours in a day we still have some time that we can spend in our 7-day week to share our most precious commodity (our time) with others. When we do so, we are sending a clear message that they are important to us. They will start to become closer to you in friendship and that relationship will deepen over time.
5. Do something for your neighbor such as housework, yard work, or errands. Everyone knows that we all have our own “stuff” to do. So when we spend time to help others it beams like a neon sign saying “I Love You.” Set aside a certain spot of time during the week that you can do something for your neighbor.
6. Practice simple acts of kindness. Some people think that they don’t have the extra money to lavish gifts on their neighbor to show their love. However love doesn’t require money. While sometimes buying gifts are a way of showing love, the best form of love comes from the way we treat others and the way we speak to them. Simple things like opening doors for someone, passing a smile, picking up something they dropped or simply letting them skip you in line are simple selfless things we can do to show love to our neighbor.